Authentic Fellowship
I’ve been thinking a lot lately about what authentic fellowship is, and what it means to the “church”. Let me start by saying that I’m a little turned off by the Western version of church right now. It doesn’t seem to be working. Sure, there are pockets and examples, but by and large it’s not working. More churches are in decline and/or closing every year in the west than in any time in history. Why?
Honestly, I think it’s because we’ve forgotten what church really is. For many of us it’s a place to plug in to…but what are we plugging in to. We’ve got so many ministries: Men’s, Women’s, Youth, Childrens, Missions, etc. These are all feeble attempts at creating community. A bunch of guys get together, go to a ball game, go home, and are left unchanged. And what’s worse, they did absolutely nothing to impact the kingdom.
And before you get offended, please remember I’m stereotyping to a certain degree…but not much, because remember, the church in the west is dying.
So, what will it take. I think something drastic. I think it will take a return to what the church is supposed to be, Biblically speaking. In Acts we see a group of people meeting in homes on a regular basis, living life. Eating, talking, sharing…being real with one another. You can’t be real with 200, 500, or 10,000 people in a room. And don’t tell me cell groups, and Sunday morning Bible studies are the same thing as what we find in Acts. They’re not.
I long to see a small group (15-20) of individuals committed to God, each other, and their community. They have to be committed to living life holistically, and with a passion to the Kingdom of God being established on earth. It will take people being real, being honest, and truly working out their salvation. You and I both know that “works” or “deeds” don’t save us. Only by the grace of God are we saved. But our salvation should be seen by others through our good works (Matthew 5:16). They need to start “doing” and stop just “being”. Their faith can’t just be a theological faith, it has to be an active faith. This is authentic fellowship. And this is what the church sorely misses.
Totally agree! I love reading about the first church in Acts and how they did life together. Keep up the blogging.
BTW – we will be there for sure in June – yeah!
Hey buddy, good post. Lest we, the Western Church, forget that we are the church one in the same. It seems as if we have become a competing enterprise – by country, by denomination, by state, and by city- not really understanding that God’s Church is one. I’m not sure it’s how we have church that will make the difference, but recognizing the true definition of the church…hence, where there is “Authentic Fellowship”, one will find the church. Thanks for posting, I needed to hear that.